At least one major automobile manufacturer inspects the paint quality on automobiles moving along an assembly line after the wheels and tires are attached and after body parts made of polymeric materials such as body side moldings, bumpers, grilles and light housings have been assembled onto the automobiles. If a paint defect is found on an automobile, that automobile is diverted onto a auxiliary portion of the assembly line where the paint defect is repaired. That repair is affected by covering the automobile with a polymeric sheet in the form of a large bag, cutting away the portion of the bag over the portion of the automobile on which the paint surface to be repaired, using masking tape to attach the bag to the automobile around the periphery of that surface portion to be repaired so that the rest of the automobile will be protected from paint overspray, preparing and repainting the exposed surface portion, and then directing radiant heaters at the automobile to cure the paint on the newly painted surface. If this repair process is performed without appropriate protection, the radiant heat used to cure the paint can fuse the polymeric sheet to the body parts made of polymeric materials, and can soften and deform certain of those body parts. Thus, to provide needed protection, an aluminum foil and masking tape composite material is formed on a non portable apron taper. In that composite material the masking tape has a portion adhered along one edge portion of the aluminum foil and a portion projecting from that edge portion of the aluminum foil by which the composite material can be adhered to a substrate. The exposed portion of the coating of pressure sensitive adhesive on the tape and aluminum foil composite is adhered to a surface of the automobile before the polymeric bag is put in place with the aluminum foil extending over the portions of the outer surface of the automobile to be protected from the radiant heat used to cure the paint. While the aluminum foil is effective in providing protection from such radiant heating for the parts on the automobile over which it is positioned, the aluminum foil and masking tape composite is difficult to handle and apply due to the need to transport long lengths of the composite from a fixed location and the tendency for the aluminum foil to tear prior to application.